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Airbus A380

Airbus A380

By Ali Mujtaba (21 May 2001)

fter
a positive response from many budding flightsimmers on my previous C-130 review, I was prompted
to write another one. This time it's on an Airbus A380 designed by
the maestro himself, Camil Valiquette!
Camil is a prominent figure in the FS aircraft deign world and we
all know him for his excellent ProMax series aircraft (777s, A330
& A340). This time it's an Airbus A380, the future jumbo which
is set to take over the reigns from the mighty 747. This is an all
FSDS design and is truly a work of art. This package also comes
with a panel designed by A. Asensio. OK, without much further ado,
let's start by reviewing the test flight.

Test Flight

I started by parking the A380 on the Terminal 3 ramp at London
Heathrow. After being pushed back I started the engines and slowly
started to taxi. The aircraft was quite responsive when it came to
ground handling and I was expecting the same when airborne. After
taxiing to runway 27L, I slowly pushed the throttle forward and
picked up speed quite quickly. After rotating the aircraft at V2
(160 kts) the plane rocketed into the air and I had to pull the
throttle back to keep it below 250 kts below 10,000 feet. As
expected, the plane was responsive and was stable in flight. After
passing 3500 feet I switched to autopilot and started to climb to
24,000 feet. After reaching the desired altitude the A380 sailed
gracefully without any hiccups. After 20 minutes of flight I slowly
started to descend & headed back to Heathrow. Again the
aircraft was extremely responsive and no problem occured. On
reaching 1500 feet, I turned off the autopilot and flew manually.
At flaps full down I was flying at a speed of 152 kts. I was amazed
that the aircraft was handled well at such a low speed. And that's
what Airbus aircraft are reknowned for in real life. On touch down
I applied the reverse thrusters, spoilers and autobrake and the
plane came to a full stop in virtually no time at all. I exited the
runway on the first available taxiway and headed back to the
ramp.

Visuals

A good design of the A380 panel by A. Asensi.
Features an overhead panel and a center console panel

One thing I like about this panel is simplicity
and the default FS2000 gauges.

3D virtual cockpit. Forward left view

3D virtual cockpit, looking to the
left

3D virtual cockpit. Right view. Just Look at that
shading!

3D virtual cockpit, forward right view

Alas those wing views. Something that you don't often find in FSDS
aircraft

Wing views! something that I crave for and I know a majority of
flightsimmers share the same view. As far as I know, this is the
first FSDS aircraft with natural wing views and without any bleed
throughs. I simply love those slat and engine movements. Camil,
You're the man!

The majestic A380 with gears extended.

Wow! Look at that detail of the
undercarriage.

Landing gear fully extended. Features a smooth
sequenced animation.

Crisp and clear textures. No matter how close you
zoom in, those textures would still appear sharp.

Have a look at those engine and pylon texturing.
Superb details.

Smooth flap railings.

The wingtip of the A380. Also features a typical
Airbus flashing strobe sequence.

Right down to every little detail. 3D wheels with
awesome texturing.

Thrust reversers being applied.

Excellent rendering of the cockpit window frames.
If you look a bit closer, you can also see the flight
crew.

Steerable nose wheel of the A380.

Rudders being put to test

Hit the spoilers key, and get ready to unload the
cargo

The 3D interior of the rear cargo
hold.

Conclusion

An excellent FS2000 aircraft, with crisp textures, nice and
smooth animation and excellent 3D rendering. The only drawback in
the aircraft are the sliding cargo doors which open up on
activating the spoilers (only if the strobe lights are also off)
when the aircraft is moving on the ground. But all in all a job
well done and Camil, as always, living up to his reputation as the
greatest FS aircraft designer in the freeware world.